Le Monde Equates Tea Partiers with the 19th-C Know-Nothing Party and Compares the Shape of the Washington Monument to a Klansman

While Charlotte Chabas lauds the anti-Wall Street protestors in Le Monde, asking — hopefully — whether they aren't the Democrats' equivalent of the Tea Partiers, Corine Lesnes states unequivocally in the same daily that the Tea Party is today's equivalent of the 19th century's ("anti-Catholic") Know-Nothing Party while comparing the shape of the Washington Monument — how is this for racist innuendo?! — to a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

At a height of 169 meters, the Washington Monument is the flagship of the capital — the obelisk is the highest in the world, if we are to believe the National Park Service. The tip has a shaped hood. It is pierced with small diamonds that shine at night like the eyes and always give Washington the appearance of a capital of conspiracy.

Avec 169 m de haut, le Washington Monument est le phare de la capitale — et l'obélisque le plus haut du monde, si l'on en croit le National Park Service. La pointe a une forme de cagoule. Elle est percée de petits losanges qui brillent la nuit comme des yeux et donnent toujours à Washington l'allure d'une capitale de la conspiration.

As I wrote in the post regarding "A Terrible Colonial War" (France's Past in Africa Is Covert, Sealed, and Taboo),

it is much easier to attack America for its sins, real or alleged, directly or by innuendo, past (slavery, the treatment of Indians, etc) or present (the Iraq War, etc), when your own past (and to a certain degree, your present), whether composed of deeds or misdeeds, are both sealed and taboo…